Saturday, June 12, 2010

Two Women Narrates How they Almost Fell Into The Hands Of Philiph Onyancha

Two women have told of their lucky escape from self-confessed serial killer Philip Onyancha

Ms Philis Okumu lived with her husband at the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company compound at Karen, Nairobi, while Ms Catherine Kosgey worked with Mr Onyancha for about a year.

Ms Okumu remembers the cold November day last year when Onyancha almost lured her into Ngong forest with her one-year-old baby boy.

The encounter remains engraved in the memory of Ms Okumu, a grocer at Karen shopping centre.

She had just settled at her vending point when Onyancha approached and informed her that her husband had been arrested and was being held at the Lenana chief’s camp.

“I had just arranged my wares at the shed when he ran up to me and asked if I knew him,” recalls Ms Okumu. “His face was familiar so I answered in the affirmative.

“He asked when my husband left the house and I told him. He informed me that he had been drinking some illicit brew with my husband at a slum within Satellite when they were busted by the chief and his askaris.

“He told me that my husband had sent him to me and insisted that I accompany him to the chief’s camp.”

Mr Onyancha offered to pay her fare to the Lenana High School matatu stage when she said she did not have the money. At first he insisted that she leave her baby with someone else, but when she insisted he reluctantly agreed.

On arrival at the Lenana school stage, the “killer” asked her if she had a mobile phone, and although she had one, she lied that she did not.

He then talked on his mobile phone and attempted to lure her into a shortcut through the forest, but she declined and said she would rather use the longer route because her baby would feel cold in the forest.

“He tried to lure me into the forest path on our way to a village on the other side but my instincts told me not to and I insisted on using the Lenana School route. He kept using his phone, but all I could hear were monosyllables.

“When we got to the other side of the forest, he said the chief and his askaris had used the forest route, so we had to hurry and go back.”

The woman, with her baby still strapped on her back, resisted his second attempt to lure her onto the “shorter route” through the forest despite his pleas.

“I became suspicious when he insisted that we use the forest route on our way back, even when there were people training dogs in the forest at the time. He even offered to carry the baby for me, but I declined and insisted on using the same route back.

Two women have told of their lucky escape from self-confessed serial killer Philip Onyancha.

“He opted to walk through the forest, while I used the same route we had used. When we met on the other side of the road, he just stared at me with a blank face and ran away. I waited at the matatu stage for three hours, believing that the chief and his group would come with my husband,” Ms Okumu narrates.

The next time

She later found out that her husband had not been with Mr Onyancha, nor had he been arrested.

The next time she saw him was when police frog-marched him to the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company offices in Karen, where she lived.

“When he was brought to Karen, I remembered his face. He is the same man who came to me and lured me to the forest near Lenana.”